This is one of my favorite italo pop tunes. It came out on Hole Records in 1983 and was produced by Den Harrow producers Turatti and Chieregato. The group also had another minor hit Miss You. True to the genre, the song has incomprehensible lyrics because the author just knew 15 words in English and used them all. Anyone care to try to figure them out for us?Styloo - Pretty Face

It's been a long couple of weeks, I am much too burnt out to formulate a cohesive thought but duty calls and a much overdue tribute to my favorite boogie-funk reissue label is in order. People's Potential Unlimited is the brainchild of Washington DC based record digger Andrew Morgan. Andrew is a top authority on the boogie-funk sound, his specialty is tracking down the original artists behind the very obscure records he sources out. Every release on this label just slays, check out some of the highlights posted below. In order to not piss off any of the artists I had to keep these rips low quality, but that's ok, they are all on wax and pretty damn cheap to purchase directly from PPU.

I tried long and hard (about 15 minutes) to find a good disco track for you to listen to while you celebrate 4/20 but I quickly came to the conclusion that the genres of rock, rap, and reggae will probably have you better covered. Listen to Cypress Hill tonight and listen to this track tomorrow. You don't want to see Beat Electricians on the pot, they can't handle it. I don't know much about this cut; I don't even know how to pronounce the artist. I do know that is came out on Partytime records in 1983, it was written and produced by a couple of nobodys and mixed by Jimmy Simpson, who also mixed a couple of GQ 12"s. I did a slight edit to this track.Nhytjar - All In Fun (Instrumental Edit)

It's Los Angeles, the year is 1984 and the city is hosting the olympic games, but outside of the many media spot lights constantly being shone upon LA county, residents and key members of the west coast electro movement, Andre Manuel (The Unknown DJ) and Louis (Three D) King, are forming Technohop records. Launch pad for artists such as Ice T, and a label that would blur the lines between old school west coast hip hop, early techno and house. It all resulted in me having lots of cool tracks and lots of stock photos of people in awesome looking running gear to choose from for the post. Here is a selection from 1987's 'Best Of Technohop' plus some bonuses:

(The technohop copyright holders asked us to take these mp3 links down. They are now selling their re-releases through juno.co.uk)

I am not quite sure why the members of Young & Co. released a couple of 12"s under the Joy alias, but that seemed the fashion for the loose coalition of artists that formed the groups Aurra, Slave, Steve Arrington's Hall of Fame and the aforementioned Company formed in 1979 by the Young brothers. This 1982 release on the bands own Eastern Records is one of my all time favorite boogie joints, period. It certainly didn't hurt that the powerhouse Young & Co. team featured one of the heaviest bass players in the history of soul music, Buddy Hankerson. Now feel free lose your shit to the below video:

Young & Co. still tour to this day and Buddy also has his own project The Buddy Hank band. I am particularly fond of their blown out 1990's 1.0 web page. Also thrown in for good measure is Sending My Love by Pleasure because either it was collecting dust in my rips folder or maybe it is the perfect response to I Need Your Love's call.

This 1979 disco tune by the female power trio Stargard came out on Warner Brothers in 1979. The track was co-produced by Verdine White of Earth Wind & Fire. I have always loved the stomp and the yacht cruising feel of this cut but have never liked the guitar solo. So here is an edit without that nonsense. I plan on editing the vocal version in the future.Stargard - Wear It Out - Instrumental (LeBaron Edit)

Lyrically disco funk wasn't all about 'good times' and escapist hedonism. In practice it was I would assume, these tracks were for the dancefloor, but those acts that were born out of the urban funk and r'n'b scenes carried over some of the subject matter in their song writing that was pertinent to the young people in inner city dancing to and making this music at the time. Here are two upbeat, disco funk dancers that convey the struggle of making it day to day in the turn of the eighties.

Denny Greene's 'The Great Escape' is a real favorite of mine, it has all the hall marks of an expensive, highly collectible record. Its an indie pressing on the small Lenox Ave. records print, with it's two tone picture sleeve, hard boogie down backing percussion and moog lead breakdowns. Yet for some reason 'The Great Escape', Denny's only solo 12" that I know of, and his solo LP, go for a buck or two whenever I come across them. There is no justice. Especially considering one half of the album is great, slightly dusted indie disco and the other well written soulful reggae, I thought people were all over that. The Great Escape's powerful vocals hit hard and do justice to the instrumental... people dying, all the time, to skag and blow and pils and wine.. I have no idea what happened to Denny Greene despite trying to track him down. If anyone knows please leave a comment.

Next is the more known and sought after bboy historian favorite Prince Charles & The City Beat Band with 'In The Streets' on Greyhound Record Productions. This one is quirky, even to the point that it has it's labels on back to front so I ended up having to record both sides having accidental recorded the instrumental instead of the vocal. Double bonus for you:

This is a great 1983 track that came out on Mango records in 1983. It has a proto garage sound with a dark synth bass and cosmic synth sounds. It also has a really long janky keyboard solo up front that I love. Sorry my copy(s) are so jacked, I tried my best to remove the pops.Affinity - Don't Go Away (Runaway Dub)

So Black Shag already plugged the upcoming House Arrest event in his excellent Z Factor post on Monday. I will let you read the listing below if you want more details about San Francisco's first epic house music party of 1989.

It seems we only post tracks from modern artists maybe once a year at BE and in my opinion this duo is well deserving of that slot. Azari & III's fresh update on the early Chicago House and Detroit Techno sounds has struck a large chord with us over here. Expect many more deep synth stabs from these wizards in the not so distant future.Azari & III - She's An IllusionAzari & III - Hungry For The Power

There is a mainstream revival of the classic 909 driven Chicago house sound at the moment, which most of you probably are more aware of than me, but some of the popular stuff that has crossed over recently doesn't sound so much inspired by mid to late eighties Chicago house so much as is mid to late eighties Chicago house in higher fidelity, and that's fine by me.

As such we are hosting Azari & III this Friday at Mezzanine in San Francisco, and I will be spinning alongside Jeno, Solar, Conor, Ken Vulsion and Derrick Love, it'll be a blast. If your not a San Francisco local or Euro holiday maker passing through, simply came here for the mp3's and don't give a shit about our party or the local hero line up (myself humbly excluded) then no apologies are given, as you are still better off for it, because it inspired me to record my beaten copy of Z Factor's Fast Cars for this post. Argued by academics to be the first ever house record made available to the public.

Z Factor included Vincent Lawrence and Jesse Saunders, two names that are well documented in the music history books and there are great interviews and accounts of that time in 1982/83/84 and what they achieved. Both would have been in their late teens when Jesse Saunders joined the new wave synth punk band Z Factor in Vince's father's studio, the owner of Mitchball records, the label that put out the promo I have, at the time a small soul and Chicago blues print. Some say 'On and On', Z Factor's follow up record is the first true house recording, a tape edit of some rhythms that Jesse Saunders would loop in the south side clubs during his sets at the time, but you can certainly hear the foundation for what was coming here in this rare 1983 release:

I had initially conceptualized this post as a means to reveal that both Black Shag and myself must be Ray Caviano's illegitimate children due to our shared reputations as scoundrel's. Now of course we draw the line long before ripping anyone off least of all Jimmy Ross. Leaving Jimmy stranded and broke in New York City only to be deported seems just a little extreme. Oddly enough the many negative comments about Caviano accrued on the last Beat Electric RFC post have now mysteriously disappeared leaving his scoundrel status somewhat dubious. Still it seems hard to deny, enough old schoolers in the know reached out to us and explained in detail what a crooked bastard this guy was.

That said, Caviano had a pretty good ear for talent. Here are a few key tracks from the partnership of RFC and Toronto based Quality Records. I now ask each of you to find it in your hearts to send A Number of Names a paypal donation or drop Monica Thornton a modest check in the mailas it seems clear Ray Caviano wasn't much into making good on his artists royalty payments.

Beat Electric is all about these Italo versions of yacht rock classics. Here we have our favorite rendition of a Chicago classic with a sultry sexy treatment that almost makes the listener want to commit suicide. Next is probably the first mash up ever. What happens when you mix Michael Jackson with Steely Dan? Tough question, but we are sure you will clown fools when you play it in the club tonight.